It was probably due in part to his parents' emphasis on the classics in his house that Ang Lee became the director he is today. The rest of the credit must go to a supportive wife, who went against Chinese tradition and supported her husband while he pursued his work, and his own creativity and training. Whatever the reason, Ang Lee is one of the world's new celebrated film directors.

He was born in the Taiwanese agricultural town of Chaojhiu, but the family moved to mainland China after the Chinese Civil War was over (1949). Their father stressed the learning of art and culture, as well as calligraphy, and set the stage for Lee's development as a film director. More talent came forth, however: Lee also writes, acts, and edits film.

Ang Lee has won a slew of awards, beginning in 1995 (Best Director for Sense and Sensibility, from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures as well as from New York Film Critics Circle Awards.) His other award-winning artistic films is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, both of which won numerous Best Director Awards-in fact, Brokeback Mountain brought Lee eight Academy Award nominations, making him the firs Asian director to achieve that feat. Time Magazine also named him as one of the 100 people chosen for their special TIME 100: The People Who Shape Our World, in 2006.

What will Ang Lee do next? Currently he is working on a Chinese film, Se jie, due to be released in 2007, as well as a romantic comedy called A Little Game, which has just been announced. He is also producing the movie The Hands of Shang-Chi, a movie based on a Marvel hero Shang-Chi, who finds out that his father is the number one criminal in the world.